00:00:03
Cape Ferd lies almost 600 kilometers off
00:00:05
the coast of mainland Africa,
00:00:08
10 islands in the Atlantic. A former
00:00:11
Portuguese colony, this archipelago
00:00:14
nation declared independence in 1975.
00:00:18
Cape Verde is often associated with its
00:00:20
rugged mountains and expansive beaches.
00:00:27
While the name translates to green cape,
00:00:29
many parts of the country are anything
00:00:31
but.
00:00:35
The islands are on the front line of
00:00:37
climate change.
00:00:40
The problem is that it doesn't rain here
00:00:42
anymore. We have no water.
00:00:45
While water is scarce in some parts,
00:00:49
elsewhere it flows in abundance.
00:00:53
Do you know that in this country there
00:00:56
is a a lack of water? No.
00:01:00
[Music]
00:01:01
Tourism is the country's main source of
00:01:03
wealth, accounting for 25% of its GDP.
00:01:07
Every year, four international airports
00:01:10
bring in about 1 million visitors, most
00:01:12
of whom stay in the big hotels.
00:01:18
They can have food how many times they
00:01:20
want. They can have drink so many times
00:01:22
they want
00:01:24
but mass tourism can wreak havoc on the
00:01:27
environment.
00:01:30
Sometimes there is more than 100
00:01:32
tourists here. So probably they can they
00:01:35
can change their behavior.
00:01:37
[Applause]
00:01:39
It touched me.
00:01:42
Business is thriving but most Cape
00:01:44
Verdians aren't reaping the benefits.
00:01:47
The money doesn't arrive here. What you
00:01:50
pay there, you stay there.
00:01:55
On Cape Bird, most things can be
00:01:57
monetized.
00:01:59
Even the sand on its beaches.
00:02:02
In the town of Ribeiraira dear, local
00:02:05
women risk their lives to extract sand
00:02:07
from the sea so they can sell it and
00:02:09
provide for their families.
It's
00:02:11
dangerous work. People die.
00:02:16
The archipelago nation also faces a
00:02:18
waste problem. Plastics from around the
00:02:21
world end up here, putting sea turtles
00:02:24
at risk.
00:02:25
They are very fragile. It's hard because
00:02:28
they can die.
00:02:33
This is the other face of Cape Verde.
00:02:35
The one tourist guides don't show.
00:02:40
[Music]
00:02:54
The Capeford Islands are far out in the
00:02:56
Atlantic Ocean. It's been several days
00:02:59
since the fishermen here have been able
00:03:01
to set out to sea.
00:03:04
But these young men from the village of
00:03:05
Sao Pedro keep busy. When the swell is
00:03:08
too heavy to launch their boats, they
00:03:10
still go fishing, but for tourists.
00:03:12
Florentino has carved out a new role for
00:03:14
himself and his friends as tour
00:03:16
operators.
00:03:17
[Music]
00:03:20
We've managed to tame the sea turtles.
00:03:22
There's a whole group of us doing it.
00:03:26
And it's working.
It's great. And dozens
00:03:28
of people come to see them. Everyone
00:03:30
loves them.
00:03:34
However, this is not the season for sea
00:03:36
turtles. At this time of year, they're
00:03:38
usually thousands of kilome away. This
00:03:42
morning, the young men have managed to
00:03:43
persuade Denilson, a French tourist with
00:03:46
Cape Verdian ancestry, to come on an
00:03:48
adventure with them.
00:03:50
He's a bit worried. He doesn't have a
00:03:53
life jacket, and the waves look choppy.
00:04:02
Am I afraid? No, not really. If my time
00:04:04
is up, then that's it. No, really. I
00:04:07
trust them. But we didn't pick the best
00:04:09
day.
00:04:27
[Music]
00:04:33
Luckily, everyone manages to stay on
00:04:35
board. And now they just need to wait.
00:04:39
Florentino knows the turtles will arrive
00:04:41
any minute like they always do.
00:04:45
[Music]
00:04:46
How do you get the turtles to come?
00:04:50
They hear the engine and come close to
00:04:51
eat. Okay. Okay. We feed them fish.
00:04:56
Turtles usually eat algae.
00:04:58
But we got them used to eating fish when
00:05:00
they were very small.
00:05:09
Look, here's one coming now.
00:05:14
[Music]
00:05:20
Over time, Florentino and his friends
00:05:22
have changed the turtles migration cycle
00:05:25
and even their diet.
00:05:29
Gorging on fish, the turtles have put on
00:05:32
weight.
00:05:34
Wow, they're huge.
00:05:40
The fishermen pivoted to taming turtles
00:05:42
after fish stocks became too scarce.
00:05:45
Since 2007, as part of an agreement with
00:05:48
the Cape Verdian government, huge
00:05:50
European vessels have been allowed to
00:05:52
fish in the waters around the islands.
00:05:54
Industrial over fishing has squeezed out
00:05:56
local fishers.
00:06:02
No,
the fishing is bad. For the moment,
00:06:06
we depend on the turtles.
00:06:12
Without this, we'd be out of a job.
00:06:19
Dil paid €20 to see the turtles. With
00:06:23
that money, Florentino can feed his
00:06:26
family for a week.
00:06:28
[Music]
00:06:31
Like Florentino, many Cape Verdians are
00:06:33
prepared to do whatever it takes to make
00:06:35
ends meet, whatever the consequences for
00:06:38
the environment.
00:06:39
[Music]
00:06:46
The Pulao Dam was once heralded as one
00:06:49
of Cape Third's proudest achievements.
00:06:52
It was originally built to irrigate an
00:06:55
entire valley in the south of Santiago,
00:06:58
but today the dam has dried up.
00:07:02
That's because it's been years since the
00:07:04
islands have seen significant rain.
00:07:10
Close by is the small village of
00:07:12
Montenegro, a cluster of houses at the
00:07:14
foot of a mountain.
00:07:20
Every day in the late afternoon, the
00:07:23
same ritual takes place.
00:07:25
Families gather around the village's
00:07:27
only fountain and wait for Martha.
00:07:30
[Music]
00:07:39
Martha is the keeper of the keys and
00:07:41
manages access to the fountain.
00:07:52
I turn on the tap so that everyone can
00:07:54
have water.
00:07:57
Is there a limit for each person?
00:08:00
Depends.
00:08:01
If we don't have much, it's limited.
00:08:03
Otherwise, you get what you want.
00:08:06
Water is pumped from underground and the
00:08:08
level varies depending on the season.
00:08:11
When water is plentiful, each family is
00:08:14
entitled to three containers of 25 L per
00:08:16
day. But at the moment, there's a
00:08:19
shortage. So each family is only
00:08:21
allotted one container. It costs eight
00:08:24
escoodos for 25 L. That's the equivalent
00:08:27
of €7.
00:08:30
And there's an ongoing problem.
00:08:32
[Music]
00:08:34
This fountain keeps breaking down. It's
00:08:37
unbearable.
00:08:41
The next day, just as predicted, the
00:08:44
pump broke down again, the third time
00:08:46
since the start of the year.
00:08:52
In his farmhouse above the village, Pral
00:08:55
Gonzaleves keeps an anxious eye on the
00:08:58
activity around the fountain.
00:09:01
Look at all these empty containers.
00:09:04
I don't know what we're going to do.
00:09:07
We have no water here. We have no water.
00:09:12
Like everyone in the village, the
00:09:14
Gonalves family has never had running
00:09:16
water. Inside her small stone kitchen,
00:09:20
Enesh, the mother, must make do with a
00:09:23
jug.
00:09:25
[Music]
00:09:31
This is the water I use for cooking,
00:09:34
washing up, and drinking.
00:09:41
With the few lers of water she has left,
00:09:44
Enesh barely has enough to cook for the
00:09:47
next 2 days.
00:09:51
[Music]
00:09:56
The lack of water is a problem for
00:09:57
livestock, too. Prau needs 80 L of water
00:10:02
and 10 kg of straw a day for his two
00:10:04
donkeys and eight goats.
00:10:09
[Music]
00:10:13
This year, thank God, we had straw,
00:10:16
but there have been years when we've had
00:10:18
nothing to feed the animals. Many of
00:10:21
them died. Between 2018 and 2020, I lost
00:10:24
my cows.
00:10:29
to say to say
00:10:32
the lack of rain makes it difficult to
00:10:34
grow grass.
00:10:39
A country like this in the middle of the
00:10:41
sea can't run out of water. It's not
00:10:43
possible. The government must solve this
00:10:45
problem. If we don't have water, we
00:10:48
can't eat.
00:10:51
[Music]
00:10:55
In the countryside, 40% of families have
00:10:58
no running water.
00:11:02
In the city, residents cope with aging
00:11:04
infrastructure and frequent cuts in
00:11:06
supply.
00:11:07
[Music]
00:11:11
This is Pria, capital of Cape Verd. The
00:11:16
city is home to 200,000 people, nearly
00:11:18
40% of Cape Verd's entire population.
00:11:24
Here, the severe drought has created a
00:11:26
new profession, water vendor.
00:11:30
Domingos is one of them.
00:11:37
Pull the hose.
00:11:40
I see.
00:11:42
[Music]
00:11:48
Today he's delivering 1,000 LERs to this
00:11:51
construction site.
00:11:53
I sold them 1,000 L for €7.
00:11:57
Isn't that expensive?
00:11:59
It's the market price.
00:12:02
Who sets the price?
00:12:04
Some of my colleagues charge up to 8
00:12:06
or€10 for 1,000 L, including transport.
00:12:11
The less we deliver, the more it costs.
00:12:15
Ashka,
00:12:19
the lack of water has created a very
00:12:22
lucrative business. And it's not only
00:12:24
the vendors who benefit.
00:12:29
Across town, there's an oasis in the
00:12:31
middle of the capital. It's been
00:12:33
nicknamed Tahiti for its palm and banana
00:12:35
trees.
00:12:38
This is where Domingos comes for
00:12:40
supplies several times a day.
00:12:44
Where does this water come from?
00:12:47
The well.
Can't say we're low, can we?
00:12:54
Tahiti has become a kind of service
00:12:56
station for water. Pria's water vendors
00:12:59
all know about it.
00:13:05
As soon as he's finished filling his
00:13:07
tank, Domingos goes to pay. Jason keeps
00:13:10
track of the accounts.
00:13:14
We total it all up at the end of the
00:13:15
day. Yesterday, for example, we ended
00:13:18
the day with €60,
00:13:20
but it varies a lot from day to day.
00:13:23
The best day we've ever had was €120.
00:13:29
€120 in one day. It's almost half the
00:13:33
average monthly wage in Capeford.
00:13:37
What's surprising is that the well
00:13:39
belongs neither to the state nor to the
00:13:41
municipality of Pria. It belongs to a
00:13:44
woman by the name of Geette. She's a
00:13:46
civil servant and a mother.
00:13:51
Geette inherited this house and its well
00:13:53
from her father.
00:13:57
Whose water is in the well? Is it yours
00:14:00
or is it groundwater?
00:14:02
[Music]
00:14:05
I'm not sure about that.
00:14:08
The well was part of the estate when we
00:14:10
bought it, so we declared it to the town
00:14:12
hall.
00:14:15
Nobody has ever asked me that question.
00:14:17
How much do you make? More or less?
You
00:14:20
want to know how much?
Yes. More or
00:14:24
less. Or is that private?
Yes.
00:14:27
I don't want to talk about that.
00:14:35
But even if she doesn't name a figure,
00:14:37
it's clear. For Geette, the water from
00:14:40
the well represents a comfortable
00:14:42
supplement to her salary.
00:14:44
Her income allows her to hire domestic
00:14:46
workers to run her house. With its lush
00:14:50
garden, it's one of the most beautiful
00:14:52
in the capital.
00:14:55
The water problem in Cape Verde is
00:14:57
nothing new. To help alleviate the
00:15:00
shortage, the country turned to one of
00:15:02
its most abundant resources.
00:15:06
The sea.
00:15:12
The government has built deselination
00:15:14
plants across the archipelago.
00:15:17
This one is supposed to supply 20,000
00:15:20
cubic meters of water every day.
00:15:23
Water pumped from 50 m below sea level.
00:15:27
[Music]
00:15:34
Hunting station's working. Okay.
00:15:37
Yeah, it's working well.
00:15:41
On Tawun Cruz is the director of the
00:15:43
Electra Group, a state-owned company
00:15:46
that manages eight desalination plants
00:15:48
in Cape Verde.
00:15:50
How many membranes are there in total?
00:15:53
Seven in each tube.
00:15:57
A deselination plant looks a bit like a
00:16:00
giant still. Filter after filter removes
00:16:03
sand and then salt.
00:16:13
After treatment, the plant discharges
00:16:15
brine into the sea.
00:16:21
Is it much saltier than the sea?
Much
00:16:24
much saltier.
00:16:28
How much?
00:16:30
I don't know the figures.
00:16:32
Three to four times saltier.
00:16:35
There are places where it's used
00:16:37
therapeutically.
00:16:39
With this change to their environment,
00:16:42
fish have deserted the coastal waters.
00:16:45
Every environmental study on
00:16:46
desalination plants has shown that brine
00:16:49
discharges are harmful to marine life,
00:16:52
rocks, and coral.
00:16:55
And that's not the only problem.
00:17:00
What energy does the plant use?
The
00:17:03
plant electric power
from where?
00:17:07
From the power station up there. From
00:17:08
the transformer.
00:17:10
[Music]
00:17:12
In fact, the power plant that supplies
00:17:14
the deselination plant runs on diesel,
00:17:18
52,000 L a day, releasing thousands of
00:17:21
tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
00:17:26
Considering the price of fuel,
00:17:28
deselination plants produce the most
00:17:30
expensive water in the country. Only the
00:17:33
wealthiest can afford it.
00:17:36
[Music]
00:17:38
Our
00:17:40
[Music]
00:17:49
next stop is Saul, one of Cape Verd's
00:17:52
most popular islands.
00:17:56
Let's go.
00:17:59
Well over half a million tourists flock
00:18:01
to these pristine beaches every year.
00:18:08
This small island, 30 km long and 20 km
00:18:12
wide, welcomes over 60% of Cape Verd's
00:18:15
tourists.
00:18:17
At first glance, it would seem as if
00:18:19
they're the only people in the country
00:18:21
not suffering from the drought.
00:18:27
In the south, some 20 establishments are
00:18:30
sprawled across the beach.
00:18:33
Among them are Melia, Hilton, Oasis, and
00:18:38
Ryu, one of the largest hotel groups in
00:18:40
the world. Ryu has six establishments in
00:18:44
Cape Verde and was the only one that
00:18:46
allowed us to film on their premises on
00:18:48
the condition that we interviewed only
00:18:50
the manager.
First time in Cape.
Yeah,
00:18:53
first time.
Okay. Hope you hope you
00:18:55
enjoy and you will come back. Thank you
00:18:56
very much.
00:18:58
Okay. Thank you. Have a nice day. Thank
00:19:01
you. Bye.
00:19:03
Danielle Rosini runs two of the group's
00:19:05
hotels. Over the last 20 years, he has
00:19:08
overseen the growth and development of
00:19:10
what is now his pride and joy.
00:19:13
The coconut trees,
00:19:16
we are very jealous of them.
00:19:19
We reproduce them and if you can see, I
00:19:21
mean since 2005 that we started with
00:19:24
Jotel, the plants are growing very fast
00:19:27
and they created this oasi into into the
00:19:30
desert.
00:19:32
Given the price of water, this oasis
00:19:35
costs the RU some €12,000 every month,
00:19:38
not to mention the swimming pools.
00:19:52
Four huge pools, each containing 600
00:19:55
cubic meters of water and featuring its
00:19:57
own poolside bar. Luxury enjoyed by
00:20:01
thousands of tourists, mainly Europeans,
00:20:04
every year.
00:20:09
[Music]
00:20:13
The hotel also offers a large hot tub
00:20:15
and children's pools. At the Ryu, water
00:20:19
is one of the largest items in the
00:20:20
budget.
00:20:22
But like all hotels in the area, the
00:20:24
cost for an all-inclusive experience is
00:20:27
relatively low depending on the season.
00:20:43
All the guests here are all inclusive.
00:20:46
That means that they can have food how
00:20:48
many times they want. They can have
00:20:50
drink so many time they wants and uh
00:20:52
they can they can absolutely forget
00:20:54
money in the hotel
and the guests here
00:20:56
take full advantage.
00:20:59
[Music]
00:21:01
But how do giants of tourism like Ryu
00:21:03
manage to keep their prices affordable
00:21:05
for guests?
00:21:07
Danielle Rosini lets us in on one
00:21:09
cost-saving measure. Every month he must
00:21:12
buy 600 tons of food to supply the
00:21:14
hotel's restaurants. His secret? Almost
00:21:18
all of it is imported sometimes from
00:21:20
very far away.
Most of the things
00:21:24
especially because of the quantity we
00:21:25
need comes from abroad.
For example,
for
00:21:29
example, what can I tell you? For
00:21:31
example, chicken comes from abroad. Uh
00:21:34
all the meat come from from from abroad.
00:21:37
The chicken comes from the US. The beef
00:21:40
from South America.
00:21:42
Fish comes from where? Sometimes
00:21:45
Vietnam, sometimes Brazil, sometime
00:21:48
Portugal, sometimes Spain.
00:21:51
The business buys where the products are
00:21:53
cheapest, even if it's on the other side
00:21:55
of the planet. As a result, the hotel
00:21:59
chain purchases almost nothing from Cape
00:22:01
Verde. To the dismay of locals,
00:22:05
[Music]
00:22:10
this pier in Santa Maria is one of the
00:22:13
liveliest places on the island.
00:22:20
Here, most fishermen don't sell to the
00:22:22
big hotels, which consider locally
00:22:25
sourced fish far too expensive. But
00:22:27
that's not all.
00:22:32
Okay,
00:22:40
we meet Anderson in the middle of the
00:22:42
market. He's one of the island's many
00:22:44
tour guides. He knows the big hotel
00:22:47
system well. He used to work there.
00:22:52
The money doesn't arrive here. When you
00:22:55
pay there, you stay there.
00:22:58
I worked before for all inclusive on
00:23:00
this island but I don't want to work
00:23:02
anymore as salarium minimum is very
00:23:05
complicate okay €10 a day sometime the
00:23:10
security from your hotel is €7 a day 8
00:23:13
hours for protect you okay so welcome to
00:23:18
my island
00:23:20
the state charges visitors a tax of €2
00:23:23
per person per night but apart from that
00:23:26
tourism does little for the local
00:23:28
economy
00:23:30
and the industry is posing an increasing
00:23:32
threat to the environment.
00:23:35
Apart from the big hotels, there's not
00:23:37
much to do on Saul.
00:23:40
There's an 18-hole golf course with or
00:23:43
without grass,
00:23:46
but the main attraction is just on the
00:23:48
other side.
00:23:59
It's known as Shark Bay.
00:24:02
[Music]
00:24:06
It touched me.
00:24:08
You don't seem very comfortable.
Yes, it
00:24:11
touched me.
00:24:13
Every day, dozens of tourists come to
00:24:15
see the sharks, most of which aren't
00:24:17
longer than 80 cm.
00:24:22
[Music]
00:24:26
calm down.
You want to touch them
00:24:28
anyway?
Yes.
00:24:30
The bay is a nursery.
00:24:34
Female sharks come here to give birth
00:24:36
because the water is warmer.
00:24:40
[Music]
00:24:43
That guy is lemon shark. There are baby
00:24:46
shark. They call lemon shark because the
00:24:49
colors the fin is like yellow.
00:24:52
Locals came up with the idea of turning
00:24:54
it into an attraction. They charged
00:24:57
tourists €3 to see the babies up close.
00:25:05
[Music]
00:25:08
Guides use fish to attract the baby
00:25:10
sharks.
00:25:12
[Music]
00:25:16
And that's become a problem.
00:25:22
A few meters away from the tourists,
00:25:25
Denise, a 30-year-old from Cape Verd, is
00:25:27
preparing equipment for the day.
00:25:33
Do you know how it's done?
00:25:36
Denise is part of an NGO, Project
00:25:39
Biodiversity,
00:25:41
which wants to measure the impact of
00:25:43
mass tourism on sharks.
00:25:47
Denise wants to place a GPS chip under
00:25:49
the skin of the little sharks to monitor
00:25:51
their movements.
00:25:53
He wonders if the sharks are being
00:25:55
disincentivized to head back to sea
00:25:57
because they're getting fed every day by
00:25:59
the guides.
00:26:01
Sometimes there is more than 100
00:26:03
tourists here.
00:26:06
If you control the tourist behavior to
00:26:08
not snorkeling with the sharks, if they
00:26:10
don't touch the sharks, I think will be
00:26:13
less impact.
00:26:15
Zero impact. It's impossible.
00:26:24
[Music]
00:26:28
Now, let's see.
00:26:36
The NGO hopes the data it collects will
00:26:39
prove useful as environmentalists grow
00:26:42
more concerned about the future of baby
00:26:43
sharks.
00:26:45
With new charter airlines serving the
00:26:47
island, visitor numbers are set to
00:26:49
increase by 30%. Intensifying the
00:26:52
pressure from tourism on the island of
00:26:54
Saul.
00:27:02
[Music]
00:27:03
Back on the island of Santiago, soldiers
00:27:06
are patrolling this beach in the eastern
00:27:07
part of the island several times a day.
00:27:14
The state has called in the army to
00:27:16
protect an increasingly scarce resource.
00:27:19
This black sand shining like a diamond.
00:27:28
[Music]
00:27:30
On many of the island's beaches, it has
00:27:33
completely disappeared.
00:27:36
All that remains are shores strewn with
00:27:38
rocks and pebbles.
00:27:40
[Music]
00:27:45
For years, women in Rebeiraa Darka have
00:27:48
taken part in an illegal trade linked to
00:27:50
the construction industry.
00:27:53
With no other prospects for making a
00:27:55
living, they've turned to digging up the
00:27:57
sand from the beaches.
00:28:08
We're going to the beach. Guests go to
00:28:10
work.
00:28:15
They collected all the sand that covered
00:28:17
the beach long ago. Now they're forced
00:28:20
to extract it from the seabed.
00:28:29
Sallet is 32 and has two children. She's
00:28:33
been doing this all her life.
00:28:38
What we're doing is illegal, but we need
00:28:40
to do it. We don't have anything to eat
00:28:43
at home.
We come to collect sand so we
00:28:46
can feed our children.
00:28:51
The women work at low tide.
00:28:54
The swell is so strong that they team up
00:28:57
with men who plunge below the water to
00:28:59
extract the sand.
00:29:08
[Music]
00:29:14
The women carry some 50 kilograms of
00:29:17
sand on their heads on each trip.
00:29:19
Accidents are common.
00:29:38
I'm used to this job. At first, I was
00:29:41
afraid.
00:29:44
Look, you're hurt. Yes. Right here.
00:29:48
It's dangerous, isn't it?
00:29:53
The shovel hit me in the face.
00:29:56
You hurt yourself filling the bucket.
00:30:00
Yes, I hurt myself.
00:30:04
Because she can't swim, Sal risks her
00:30:07
life every time she enters the water.
00:30:10
Many of the other women can't swim
00:30:12
either.
00:30:22
It's a dangerous job. People die.
00:30:26
The sea is dangerous.
00:30:29
Some people have drowned, others have
00:30:32
broken their arms, others their feet.
00:30:35
You're always getting hurt.
00:30:41
They dump the sand in a pile on the
00:30:43
beach and wait for a truck to come pick
00:30:44
it up.
00:30:47
[Music]
00:30:50
Normally, the truck comes every week,
00:30:54
but it's been 15 days since the last
00:30:56
pickup.
00:31:07
Please don't drop any sand.
00:31:11
Are the stones stable? Check that your
00:31:13
stone isn't moving.
00:31:19
In 2 hours, the women load about 20 tons
00:31:22
of sand, earning only 230 for the hall,
00:31:28
which they must divide among 11 people.
00:31:36
It's a lot of effort for not much money.
00:31:39
Our backs hurt. We're tired.
00:31:43
Sallet has only received €20 for the
00:31:46
last two weeks of work.
00:31:48
[Music]
00:31:56
The women of Rebeiraa Darka's grueling
00:31:59
work supplies the construction industry
00:32:01
throughout the region.
00:32:07
A truck delivers the sand to a large
00:32:10
wellestablished company in town.
00:32:16
The illegally extracted raw material is
00:32:18
a crucial component of these concrete
00:32:20
blocks. Some 5,000 are made every week
00:32:23
and they're the cheapest in the area. In
00:32:26
the courtyard, customers are in a hurry
00:32:28
to buy them.
00:32:31
What did you come to buy? blocks.
00:32:33
Concrete blocks. What for?
To build my
00:32:37
house.
00:32:42
Do you know that the women who get sand
00:32:44
get it from the sea?
00:32:47
Yes. I know. It's sad to see these women
00:32:49
coming out of the sea with their buckets
00:32:50
on their heads.
00:32:53
It's heavy.
00:32:56
Later, they have health problems.
00:32:58
But we can't buy anything else. We have
00:33:01
no choice.
00:33:06
Because of the illegal extraction, the
00:33:08
company achieves record sales of €10,000
00:33:11
every month, almost 40 times the average
00:33:14
wage in Capeford.
00:33:17
[Music]
00:33:24
The women of Rebeira devara like Clet
00:33:27
have no idea just how much the builders
00:33:29
are profiting from their work.
00:33:32
[Music]
00:33:35
We meet up with Clet again at the end of
00:33:37
the day.
00:33:39
[Music]
00:33:42
Meet my children. Ivan Neilson is 14 and
00:33:46
Vana is four.
00:33:48
[Music]
00:33:50
Did you take care of your sister?
00:33:52
No, I forgot.
Did you feed her?
No.
00:33:58
Come on.
I'll give you something to eat.
00:34:00
Their
00:34:04
home may be small, but Celelette manages
00:34:06
to get food on the table every day.
00:34:10
But she doesn't know if she'll have
00:34:12
enough money to send her son to school.
00:34:22
He should go to the school in the town
00:34:23
20 km away. I'm going to have to pay €30
00:34:27
a month for the bus. If I don't have the
00:34:30
money, he won't be able to go to school.
00:34:36
[Music]
00:34:37
What would you like to do later on?
00:34:43
I'd like to immigrate to find a job so
00:34:45
that my children can have a future,
00:34:48
but that hasn't been possible so far.
00:34:51
[Music]
00:34:54
Some residents of Rebeiraa Darka have
00:34:56
already left to work abroad. And they're
00:34:59
not the only ones.
00:35:01
In fact, more than 800,000 Cape Verdians
00:35:04
have left their homeland for work.
00:35:07
That's more than the country's current
00:35:09
population.
00:35:18
Of
00:35:22
the 10 islands comprising Cape Verde,
00:35:25
one is uninhabited by humans.
00:35:31
Santa Lucia has an arid climate and a
00:35:33
desert-like landscape.
00:35:39
Sea turtles come here to lay their eggs,
00:35:42
but not all survive.
00:35:48
This nature reserve has become a garbage
00:35:51
dump and needs protection.
00:35:55
[Music]
00:36:01
The Atlantic Ocean's currents are to
00:36:03
blame. They carry waste from Africa,
00:36:07
North and South America, and Europe to
00:36:09
the shores of Cape Verde.
00:36:15
At the end of June, hundreds of sea
00:36:18
turtles come to the island to lay their
00:36:19
eggs, landing on beaches littered with
00:36:22
plastic.
00:36:24
[Applause]
00:36:31
This footage was taken by an
00:36:33
environmental association dedicated to
00:36:35
saving sea turtles.
00:36:38
[Music]
00:36:40
I think I'll be able to save this one.
00:36:44
The association is called Biosphira.
00:36:50
Every year since 2015, it has organized
00:36:52
a cleanup of the northern beach of Santa
00:36:55
Lucia
00:36:56
just before the turtles start laying
00:36:58
their eggs.
00:37:16
The association brings hundreds of
00:37:18
liters of water and tons of food and
00:37:20
equipment to set up a base camp.
00:37:25
For 5 days, the camp will host around 10
00:37:28
volunteers.
00:37:32
Leila coordinates the operation.
00:37:40
Last year we managed to clean 3
00:37:42
kilometers of beach. It's not much, but
00:37:45
it's more than the year before. And our
00:37:47
aim this year is to get a bit further.
00:37:54
[Music]
00:37:56
The next morning, the team gets off to
00:37:58
an early start. By 5:00 a.m., it's all
00:38:01
hands on deck.
00:38:04
Come on, guys. We're running late.
Let's
00:38:06
go.
Okay,
everyone take something.
00:38:10
[Music]
00:38:23
Where do we start? There or over there?
00:38:27
From that crate there.
00:38:36
This is medicine
00:38:39
from an Asian country. I believe we find
00:38:42
a lot of medicines here. We don't know
00:38:44
why. And many times still full without
00:38:47
being used. It's very strange actually.
00:38:53
This one comes from France.
00:38:58
cuz they in
00:39:00
cold, isn't it?
00:39:02
In addition to unexpired medication,
00:39:05
they find detergents from South Korea
00:39:07
and Morocco.
So, it's very far away
00:39:11
and it comes from Morocco. This is a
00:39:14
bottle of water,
00:39:20
Saudi Arabia.
00:39:22
The volunteers come across all sorts of
00:39:24
things, including this strange object
00:39:27
that nobody has managed to remove in six
00:39:30
years. A length of underwater
00:39:32
telecommunications cable weighing
00:39:34
several tons.
Look at this. No way we
00:39:37
can remove it.
We don't understand how
00:39:39
these things get here. Honestly,
00:39:44
there are also the large nets left
00:39:46
behind by industrial fishing boats which
00:39:48
wind up half buried beneath the pebbles.
00:39:54
Good luck getting that done, guys.
00:39:57
[Music]
00:40:01
This is very dangerous, especially for
00:40:03
the small turtles because they can get
00:40:04
trapped when they're coming out of the
00:40:06
nests.
00:40:09
Ronaldo is 27 years old. This is the
00:40:12
second year he's come to clean up the
00:40:14
beaches of Santa Lucia. He's still
00:40:16
appalled by what he finds.
00:40:21
I think it's a disaster
00:40:24
because if all of this ends up here,
00:40:26
imagine what's on the seabed.
00:40:28
It's double. It's triple. It's enormous.
00:40:35
I'm very sad. Very, very sad.
00:40:40
Every year, the association collects
00:40:42
around 60 tons of plastic and fishing
00:40:45
nets.
00:40:46
As they don't have the means to dispose
00:40:48
of them or treat them, they simply store
00:40:51
them in these crates until a solution is
00:40:53
found.
00:40:55
[Music]
00:40:59
We made this one last year, didn't we?
00:41:10
At the end of the shore, there's even
00:41:12
more trash.
00:41:15
But due to a lack of funding and
00:41:17
volunteers, the association isn't able
00:41:20
to clean it up.
Yes.
00:41:29
It's very heartbreaking and overwhelming
00:41:31
to see this and to know that
00:41:35
even if you try your best every day, you
00:41:37
cannot fix this problem. And even if you
00:41:40
bring the volunteers and if you take
00:41:41
this waste less next year, it will be
00:41:44
the same. So even if we stop now, we
00:41:48
would still face this problem for the
00:41:50
next 50 years.
00:41:53
[Music]
00:41:55
Even though the situation can feel
00:41:57
discouraging, Leila and her team know
00:42:00
their efforts are paying off. Thanks to
00:42:03
conservation efforts, the sea turtle
00:42:05
population here has increased in recent
00:42:07
years. And Cape Verde is now home to one
00:42:10
of the largest populations of nesting
00:42:13
loggerhead turtles in the world.
